Manky Monkey Motors

The wife has told me that I shouldn't carry red hot lumps of metal, from our open fire, through the house, to the garage ! :(
Can't see why, ??? but to keep her happy I am attempting to build a small forge.
Should be able to do this at minimal cost (nowt would be nice) and it will help clear some of the steel from the garage.
Hearth - 16" square. Base cut from 1/4" (6.35mm) steel plate and sides are 2.5 mm thick.
Would have prefered 3mm for the sides, but I've run out of that.

.

thumbs up so far,

and what is wrong with using fire in house?

if you took anvil inside the metal would be hotter to work with!!!!!!

 ;D
To keep this compact, I'm making this as a bottom draught forge, with a cast iron fire pit (MGB brake disc) Cutting the central hole in the 1/4" plate wasn't fun. Legs welded on but stretchers still to do.

My baby anvil arrived ! Need to round the bick (horn) as for some reason it's almost flat, smooth the hardy hole and make solid stand but it should be fine. Put a penny on the top to give an idea of size.

I had a huge anvil, had to lift it with the engine hoist. Had it staked to a big Oak tree trunk in the garden, was there for years, then one day it just disappeared ! A few days later it was discovered that loads of stone garden gate decorations and mushrooms had been lifted as well, believed to have been lifted to order. Never seen it since, good ten years back. Police reckon it all went to France with some collector refurbishing his Chateau.

Yep it's amazing what gets nicked.
Air pipe made with flange at the top to match the fire pit and another at the bottom for the air control / ash dump valve.
Made from a modified MGB wire wheel hub, two bits of exhaust pipe and an exhaust flange.

brilliant.

 :)
Air jet, made from cast iron. Number and size of holes are a bit of a guess. Just have to see how it works.

Air control. The arm will be supported by a bar between the front legs.

 ;D ;D  I cant wait to see the donkey driven wheel for the bellows  ;D ;D

 ;D
 Trouble is the wife is alergic to donkeys, so was thinking of using small children. But it seems that child labour is no longer allowed. Had the same problem when trying to get the chimneys cleaned.

its ,,chipmunk,,or ,,squirrel,, then

 ;D Hamsters. Lots & lots of hamsters. :D
Not got a lot done but I drilled and countersunk the disc so that it is now secured to the bottom plate and wanting a bit of removable weight low down, I welded in somewhere for a water bucket.
It's the wheel centre from a Morris that I had lying around.

Not got a lot done.
You have done more in a week than I've done in three months.
Nice job very nice.

Thanks.
Forge is finished apart from sorting out a blower. Total cost £ 0.00 It's all from scrap or steel that I have had lying around for years.

Couldn't see much point in painting the centre. :)
As soon as I get a blower I shall fire it up and see if it's any good.

wife could donate the hairdryer??? Good looking piece of work, again ;)

The ideal Chestnut roaster and it will keep the workshop nice and warm, a multi use bit of kit (http://www.desismileys.com/smileys/desismileys_3334.gif) (http://www.desismileys.com/)

So can you explain to the stoopid people ...O.K, me, just how it works Dave

It's very much like an old fashioned open fire in a house except it's supercharged.
Instead of having a chimney creating a natural updraught pulling air through the coal to aid combustion, a blower (or bellows) forces much more air through the tube (tuyere) into the fire causing the coal (or charcoal or coke) to burn at a much faster rate. Typical temperature of an open fire is probably about 850 C. Enough to get steel to bright red, which is just about OK to work with but not for forge welding, takes ages to heat the work, which will cools quickly to a point where it's unworkable.
With an air blast forge, a temperature in excess of 1300 C should easily be achievable.
The blower will be attached to the side tube and the simple slide valve at the bottom of the tube arrangement, is there to fine adjust the amount of air the forced through the fire, or bled out the bottom.

Thank you. So do you need some sort of hood over it to contain the heat? Presumably the white base is fireproof tyles? -I ask the stoopid questions so others don't have to :)

 :D.
Hood not required, unless you intend on using it inside the workshop, in which case a hood with a chimney to the ouside is needed if you dont want to die.
  I have an unused chimney in the house, but I can't see the wife allowing me to put the forge in the  kitchen !
 Seeing as my workshop/garage is integral with the house, I think it safest if the forge stays outside. :) Though a small carport style shelter (open on three sides) might be feasible.
 The white base sections are cut from a sheet of 12mm water and heat resistant concrete board. I've used this before as heat shield when using the propane torch and it seem to be OK. If it doesn't last, I may have to get some refractory cement. The idea of using the MGB disc is that the cast iron is resistant to heat and easy to replace if required. The very hot zone should be limited to within the disc area.
 Have sorted a variable speed blower which should arrive Friday and yes I had to buy one, :( so this project wasn't quite zero cost, but if it all works, £26 is't bad. ;D

Cracking job there Olds.......so does this mean your now a master forger ;D ;D

 :D Only the wifes signature.

Had a special delivery today by a very special postie. Despite it being his day off ! :o
Thanks a lot MM :-*
Blower for the forge. Jeez it's powerful. Lucky that it has a built in speed control.
Will try to get it fired tomorrow (dependant on weather).

Was it intended as a leaf blower originally ?

Marketed as an air blower. The nozzle would be a bit short for a leaf blower and it's only 550 watts but it is a bit big for what I need. Still better to have a big fan not working hard, than a small one unable to achieve the airflow needed. I can always bleed off more air if the slowest speed is too much.

Looking good olds,
Now fire her up and get to work.

All round to Olds at the weekend for a Barbie ? :D

Could do some lovely baked potatoes in there.

 ;D
Well it works great ! Blower is far too big but that's not a problem.
Started to make some tongs.

cool    ;D

Nice one Dave....... enjoy ;D ;D ;D

 :D I will. It's great fun. Not used a real forge since I was 16 so a lot to remember.
 In my hurry to get started I didn't give it time to warm up slowly and after a few minutes there was a loud bang which I assume was the disc cracking. Find out when it cools down.

Just a thought, would a car heater blower be better.  Being a larger volume of air but at less pressure.

I must assume you have very amenable neighbours, Dave, particularly once the anvil comes into play!!.... :D :D :D..Morrag

Erm - quite hot actually!

Think I need less volume but still need some pressure and I  think that an old fashioned hair drier (centrifugal fan) with the heating elements removed may be the way to go, but a heater blower is a possibility. I have an old Smiths heater from a mini but not sure if it works.
Yep my neighbours are very good. Never had any complaints. As long as the metal is hot enough the anvil doesn't make too much noise. It's when the work cools that the anvil sings.
Yep, very hot. :)
Didn't get much made as it was really a test to see how it worked and to get used to it. Knocked up a small implement to move the coal around and some tongs, which aren't pretty but are functional.

You don't hang around do you,
As always nice work.

When I was an apprentice in my teens, the old Copper Works I was at had a Smiths shop with a line of 10 forges and a couple of Steam Hammers, and all the equipment found in an industrial blacksmiths shop. Sadly, even then, they were down to one forge and a smith, and even he had been brought out of retirement, but he was extremely proud of the fact that in a lifetime in the game, he had only ever purchased one tool,his brass 2' rule! His party trick was to stand an egg on a pile of sand and bring the steam hammer down to touch it without breaking it, mind you , it could have been hard boiled I suppose! :D :D...Morrag

Been trying different air jet/grates. The first one was good for a small easily controlled fire but I wanted to also be able to do larger work.

Result is a much larger fire. Naturally it consumes a lot more coal but also heats the work faster.

I'm impressed you drilled the holes in a symmetrical pattern -if I did it they'd be all over the place.  :P

Dave, are you up for having a play on your forge?  I have a little job thats right up your street.  No problem if you dont want to, I wont be offended ;D   I will post a picture later.

I would like to turn this old BluePoint ring spanner into a knife for my BBQ pit. I just cant get enough heat into it for long enough. As I said, no pressure mate, we all have enough to do.

(http://i390.photobucket.com/albums/oo343/PDSheridan/2016-03-12%2013.01.19_zpswuwyvxi7.jpg) (http://s390.photobucket.com/user/PDSheridan/media/2016-03-12%2013.01.19_zpswuwyvxi7.jpg.html)

Why not. Large flat ring spanners are the norm, then you can have a nice twisted handle, but I'll give it a go.
Giving a big old chipping hammer a new purpose.

Good stuff, cheers.  PM me your address and I will send it to you along with the return postage and a bottle of your choice Sir ;)

PM sent. No need for a bottle but if you happen to have a bottle of Balvenie 50 spare I wouldn't say no. :D

Don't be so ridiculous!  One wouldnt lower ones self to drink a Scotch only priced at £37,857.14p per litre.....  But I will sent Cuthbert down to the cellar to see what he can find.  ;D ;D ;D

Olds  Don't suppose you'd be interested in a gas fired Kasinit Furnace with amal gas gun would you?

I assume that this would be a casting furnace. Nice idea but no room. This little solid fuel forge suits me fine. I don't need to use it often and it can sit outside ready for use as and when. It could be adapted for with a crucible if I fancy trying aluminium casting. ;)

And for BBQ sausages, and.............................. ;D ;D

I know it's been a long time since I last posted this topic, as it's not generally vehicle related but I thought I'd share some of the work I've done using the forge, other than the bits already posted for the car.
If anyone has ever fancied building a forge but not got around to it, I would say do it. It's a lot of fun (apart from the burning flesh part) and is a handy bit of kit if you do metalworking.

Hmm, I can see a nice funky gear stick ?

:D Possibly.
Lot of work goes into the heads as they are made from a single bit of steel bar, folded and forge welded to get the extra thickness and to make the horns.
 I was thinking that reversing twists could make for unusual sissy bars etc.

Sissy bar to match my gear stick ..PLEASE.. ;D
I so want to have a forge and BANG out some of this stuff..but I can't grip hold of stuff and bash bang wallop anymore .. :'(

If you have problems, and find it hard, get the wife to hold it for you. No not that  ::) The work piece. :D
It doesn't take as much physical effort as one might think. I have joint problems and found that by making long, self gripping tongs, I don't have to grip the work hard and while I have heavy hammers (up to 8 lb) I almost always use a 2 lb one or smaller, as it's less tiring and easier to control.
One of my more delicate designs. A penannular pin.

Dave I have trouble constantly now..and even typing on here hurts..so gripping hammers etc is basically a one shot affair ..all caused by years of driving and weights ?  ;D

Know what you mean Stinkey - I always wanted to do pottery when I could no longer do the travelling - but I seriously doubt whether I'd be able to handle the clay now.

It's not so much that my hands hurt cos I'm used to that and just live with it, but I've lost the strength in them too.

love the heads and door knockers mate, well done sir  ;) ;) ;)

Thanks Craig. Really enjoying teaching myself this craft. Just a shame that I can't get out to the forge more often. Although they are a simple shape, the snakes take a lot longer to make.